CPU Junction Temperatures: Several readers have written expressing concern
over high (junction) temperature readings on the G3 Mac. Based on what I've seen in the
commercial CPU world at work, most commercial parts are rated for up to 150 deg C
junction temperatures, so I don't think the ratings we're seeing on
the G3 are harmful. I'd have to look up the PowerPC 750 specs, but
I'm sure 80 degrees C is well within operating limits.
I am baffled by the up to 50+ Deg C spread that
has been reported (26C to 84C), even on identical CPU speeds and
system models. That's a unbelievable amount of variation in identical
parts in similar environments. [4:30 PM Update]
Several readers mentioned an article on the web today regarding a new design G3 CPU card
from XLR8 (nothing at their site yet). I'll be posting more details when I get them.
[4:30 PM Update]
More on the Zip disk requester issue:
"
A shot in the dark
Perhaps the reader should try disabling the "Auto Remounter" control
panel, which tries to re-mount any disks that were mounted when the
computer was shutdown or put to sleep."
[3:00 PM Update]
Winners of the site T-shirt contest should be getting their prizes soon.
I'd love to see some photos (gif/jpg files) of the winners wearing them.
I'm late mailing some off to friends as I've been trying to catch up after
missing a week off from work due to Kay being ill. They will go out this week.
[3:00 PM Update]
Bravado 1000/PowerForce G3: Awhile back I asked for feedback if the
(discontinued) Bravado 1000 capture card worked with the PowerForce G3
CPU cards. A reader comments on his experience:
"
You probably have received a lot of responses by now, but I will add mine
to the list. I can get the Bravado 1000/Powerforce 220/110/512 to work.
I get video capture, playback, etc. I had to clock it down from 315 to
about 260 to get it to work, but it does work. Can't say I am entirely
pleased.
Richard"
If you're running this combination I'd like to hear your story, please contact me.
[3:00 PM Update]
I've gotten two suggestions so far today on the Reader Request
regarding repeated prompts for a external Zip disk.
"
This may be a little too basic, but first check to see if there are any
startup applications or aliases that point to this volume. Also check to
see if any font management programs such as Suitcase or ATM Deluxe are
requesting any fonts from this drive.
.
Alexander Glass"
"
Mike,
I was plagued with this problem once. Then I remembered I had set the
removable as default for downloads with Netscape, in
Edit:Preferences:Navigator:Applications. I get the "Can't find EZ135" at
launch of Netscape. Allan may have Netscape, or some other app for which
he had designated his Zip as default write-to disk, launch on startup.
Rich Jones"
[12:30 PM Update]
Rhapsody Drivers Mail List: Subscribe at http://msem26.eng.ohio-state.edu/rhapsody-drivers/.
[12:30PM Update]
New 3Dfx Tweaker Beta: I forgot to post that there is a new beta of the 3DFx Tweaker available now.
This utility allows Power3D/3Dfx card owners to modify the refresh rates, swapbuffer modes and
card clock speed. More info is available at the 3Dfx Tweaker home page.
PowerForce/Catalyst/3Dfx problems? At least a dozen PowerForce G3/Power3D owners wrote saying they had no problems with their PowerForce G3 and Power3D card combo. This was the only Catalyst/PowerCenter owner reply:
"
Hi Mike,
I am running a PowerForce G3 220/110 at 335/134. I also have a Power3D 3Dfx
card. Both are installed in what used to be my PowerCenter 132. I
experienced serious problems when I put in the G3 card. I have a Initio
Miles 9100UW and two Quantum Atlas II 2.2gig HD's running in a stripped array
with SoftRAID. When I first put in the G3 card everything seemed fine, but
I started getting weird disk errors. My directory structure was degrading
and the Finder wasn't able to locate most of my files after a few crashes
and restarts. After I formatted the array I put in my old 200 mhz 604e then
checked your site for some help. I found a tip to turn off the "write
cache" feature in my HD drivers, ever since I have been nearly trouble free.
But if the G3 card is doing the same thing to this misfortunate reader, then
he will have to format his HD (I tried for 2 hours to save everything that I
could) and make sure to turn off the "write cache" in his drivers. If that
fellow would like any other help he may contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Nathan Aschbacher
"
If you are running a PowerForce G3 card and a Power3D/3Dfx card - please contact me.
G3 Cooling Notes: The G3-ZONE main page has two reader posts regarding cooling. One speaks of cable clutter causing elevated temperatures and another reader has a half price sale on
cooling fan kits for the G3. My G3 CPU junction temperature is reported as 52-56C by the XLR8 PI utility. At first I doubted the readings, but after opening the case after several hours a check of the heatsink revealed it was very warm.
A followup to a recent post regarding Apple extended warranty coverage for Florida residents:
"
Hi Again Mike,
I went back to Apple's Applecare site and they listed Apple
Authorized dealers/Applecare service providers in my area; Florida. I
called a place called "Mac Center" (with a big "S" next to their listing
stating that they sell and service primarily Apple products and meet Apples
product knowledge and service standards. I called them and explained I had
purchased a "refurbished" 8600/300 from a California Apple establishment
and did they sell Applecare to cover it, she said SURE! One year on-site is
$150 and 2 year on-site is $252; so it appears maybe Apple can't sell me
Applecare in Florida but a Florida Apple dealer can, Huh?
"
Apple Service: Imagine my surprise yesterday when I received a call from the Mother Ship. Apple service called in response to
my comments regarding my refurbished 8600 damaged side cover. I was impressed.
Reclaiming Memory: Here's the latest feedback from Sunday's post regarding memory not being released after exiting Netscape 4:
"
I have found that the 20 meg lingering ram-grab that Netscape used to do
disappeared with 4.05 of the browser (at least the 128 bit encryption
version) and Mac OS 8.1. The weird stuff in the trash and double
shutdown bug disappeared with 4.04 and is still gone.
Joseph Snodgrass
"
"
I just read John Garde's email about netscape communicator and ram not
being released when quiting. I have a couple of solutions for reclaiming memory, in any situation. The
first is to quit the finder. NOT force quiting, but by using a utility,
such as No Finder to quit the finder. Then quit the utility, and the
finder relaunches itself. Lo and behold some of the memory is now avalible.
The other utility I use is MacOS Purge. When run, it purges all the
resources in memory that are set to be "purgable." These are usually
resources of the kind that are only needed on a temporary basis and thus
doesn't need to be in ram all the time.
Such programs can be found at http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html
Arjun 'Cyberman' Kanodia
"
GameSpot has published a new site containing all their game guides, tips and cheats called GameGuides.
Softwatcher and Versions have merged. See the press release for more info.
New Photoshop Benchmark: A new actions based cross-platform Photoshop 4 benchmark is available at: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/4363.
Rhythmic Disk accessing Problems - More Feedback: Here's the latest in our continuing coverage of the problem: "
Mike,
My problem was caused by the non-system font in the clock menu.
Changing the font fixed it. Thanks,
Al Levison
"
"
Hi Mike.
Just another feedback about Seagate drives and rhythmic disk access. I
had just thought that the clicking of the drive was something that went
with the territory since I added a 7200 rpm UW Seagate drive to my
system. I never considered the solutions your readers have been posting
until today when I disabled the PPP extension (hell, I don't dialup
anymore anyway with a cable modem) and the sound disappeared!
Joseph Snodgrass
"
If you do have the problem, please let me know if your system has the following items:
- Catalyst Motherboard (7200, PowerCenter, PowerCenter Pro, or just note model)
- A Seagate Hard Disk (and if it is the boot disk)
- Virtual Memory on?
- Free PPP installed?
- Any non-System fonts used for clock?
- Any other 3rd party extensions (Ramdoubler, etc.)
Contact me with the above info and I'll try to summarize and isolate common factors that may be the root cause.
Wanted: 9600/350 CPU Card: I'm still looking for a 9600/350 Mhz card (not a 300mhz clocked up) to modify to 400mhz. If you have one for sale or trade, contact me. I'd be willing to offer this 350mhz Mach 5 card (originally a 300 but runs just fine at 350) and a 64MB DIMM or cash in trade as well. I've received many requests for
to mod. Mach 5 cards for higher speeds and am considering it (with the proper written release).
Reader Requests:
"
I've been trying to solve this problem myself for months, so please
forgive me for using your site to try to do so.
I have an 8500 w/240Mb, recently upgraded with an XLR8 275/183 card,
although this problem existed before I got the upgrade.
The problem is that Quicktime is really erratic in playing back off of
my Seagate ST34555UW drive. The drive benchmarks quite well,
consistently above 7Mb/sec sustained read, and well above that to write.
It has been initialized with HDT 2.0.6 and with Apple's utilities to no
effect.
Playing movies with an average data rate of around 450k/sec, and peaks of
under 1 Mb/sec, the playback is stuttery, erratic, with sound breakup.
However, these movies play fine when run from a conventional JAZ drive,
the stock apple 2Gb narrow drive, even a CDROM. they also play fine on a
P90 PC under Win95 off a cheap IDE drive.
The cables from the adapter card to the drive have been checked and
different ones tried without improvement. I've used ATTO, Adaptec and
Initio cards without a difference. Minimal system, no 3rd party stuff,
using OS8.1. I've tried it with QT 2.5 and 3, no difference.
The really odd thing is that when movies are less demanding, say 250k
/sec, they play overspeed. The movies are 15fps, but are typically
playing at 20-21 fps!, but again, only from the Ultrawide drive.
What gives? This is driving me more than a little crazy - can anyone help?
Dan Donaldson
"
If you have any tips/info that may help, please contact me.
"
Hi Mike:
A friend's 8500 was shut down with a ZIP Disk in the external zip and it
asks for the disk at every startup.
I can't seem to defeat this but I think I once knew a way. We don't have
the disk.
Thanks for your time,
Allan Landwer"
If you have any tips/info that may help, please contact me.
Net News:
This site is 100% Intergraph free - no persons working on this web site have ever been
on the payroll of any PC manufacturer.
Please check your bookmarks - make sure you are using www.xlr8yourmac.com.
3D Column Logo Contest: I'm still asking for all 3D artists out there to submit their creations for our new 3D Column Logo/Banner.
The winner (and any other interesting entries) is also invited to write an article
(complete w/screen captures if poss.) showing how it was done. I'd like to have all entries by June 15. Resolution should be
200H x 500W (Maximum size - smaller is fine). GIF (animated OK, but try to keep file sizes small) or JPEG format for the final image.
If you'd like to submit a 3D Logo design (full credit given of course), please contact me.
We need your G3 info! Reader "Oz" has offered to help with collecting data on Apple G3 system compatibility issues (hardware and software) of all types. Please send him any Apple G3 system compatibility info/issues you have
or are aware of at: oz@bbdoperu.com
Search Tip! For searches on product names with mixed capitalization, use keywords like PowerBoost Pro (not Powerboost Pro or powerboost pro) and MaxPowr (vs maxpowr or Maxpowr). It seems that capitalization within the word on the site pages is throwing off the engine. Keep that in mind when searching for some of the odd product names.
Need Help? Before you send email for tech support, please check the Troubleshooting page or try searching the site (use quotes for exact matches! i.e. "mach 5" vs mach 5 which will match machine, 5, etc.) and to check the FAQ, Performance Basics, Links, and Forums for solutions to your problems or answers to tech support questions. They have a lot of good info and are a great source of help.
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